McKinsey & Company buys supply chain firm SCM Connections

McKinsey & Company has acquired SCM Connections (SCMC), a Chicago-based supply chain consulting firm.

Founded in 2010, SCMC specializes in deploying advanced planning and scheduling (APS) software. The firm saw an intense demand spike during the pandemic as companies scrambled to meet challenges wrought by supply chain disruption. SCMC answered the call by supporting clients in reinventing networks, digitizing processes, and building greater resilience into infrastructures.

An SAP Gold partner and a Kinaxis partner, SCMC has offerings covering supply planning, response planning, demand planning, inventory optimization, and sales and operations planning. The firm has more than 45 employees across offices in Chicago and Toronto.

McKinsey’s acquisition of SCMC will add complementary capabilities in supply chain planning technology and analytics. Combined with McKinsey’s strategic insights, planning-process acumen, and organizational change expertise, the deal will enable the New York-based consulting firm to deliver end-to-end supply chain transformations.

“Global supply chain issues are increasingly complex and volatile supply chains are forcing companies to modernize the tools they use for forecasting demand and planning supply and inventory to meet it," said Daniel Swan, senior partner and global co-convenor of McKinsey & Company's operations practice. "Today, we are in a new age of supply chain management where advanced planning capabilities are king and digital innovation builds the bridge to resilience. With this acquisition, we will be able to help our clients embed a full, end-to-end technology-enabled supply chain planning approach to fuel long-term growth and build resilience."

McKinsey earlier this year acquired Caserta, a New York-based data analytics consulting and implementation firm. The transaction added nearly 50 data engineers, architects, and strategists.

“We are thrilled to join McKinsey and expand our footprint to serve more clients at greater scale — across the full manufacturing and supply chain cycle," said Mike Raftery, CEO of SCM Connections.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.